Arsenal’s Nicolas Pepe sends one-word reply to Matteo Guendouzi post on social media

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Arsenal winger Nicolas Pepe has issued a cheeky response to Matteo Guendouzi’s social media post following his appearance for France Under-21s yesterday.

The 21-year-old captained Les Bleuets and played the full 90 minutes in Friday night’s 2-0 win over Georgia’s Under-21s in European U21 championship qualifying.

After the game, Guendouzi took to social media with a message praising the team and looking ahead to the next fixture, against Azerbaijan’s U21s:

Guendouzi also shared his post on Instagram, where Pepe responded by saying “captain?” along with a laughing emoji:

Whilst it was most likely just banter between two teammates – after all, he liked the post – seeing Guendouzi with the captain’s armband will probably have surprised some Arsenal fans.

The former Lorient man was frozen out at the Emirates Stadium in wake of an incident with Brighton striker Neal Maupay towards the end of their Premier League clash on 20 June.

Since then, speculation about Guendouzi’s future has increased, with recent reports – such as in The Telegraph – claiming that Mikel Arteta is open to selling the player.

However, Arteta has also gone on record to say “everybody is going to have the same opportunities” this coming season, effectively wiping the slate clean for the likes of Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil.

That said, with Arsenal likely needing to sell players before they can bring new ones in, it remains to be seen whether Guendouzi is one of those sold to raise funds for new arrivals.